Marking the centenary of Latvia, in Pedvale Art Park an environmental art object by Ojārs Feldbergs “99 + 1 = 100” was opened.
The environmental art object was created in the framework of the campaign “Word Giving” (translator’s note: in Latvian the phrase is a word play meaning also “casting a spell”, as in witchcraft), wherein the residents of the Talsi region were involved. It began on 18 September 2018 and ended on 11 November 2018.
On the opening day, the 100th stone was attached to the art object, done by Valda Strāķe on behalf of her mother Ludmilla Rulle. Ludmilla Rulle is the oldest inhabitant of the Abava Parish (101 years old), and she named her stone Milda. During the event, the author of the environmental art object, Ojārs Feldbergs, read all the 100 names involved in the creation of the object as well as their stones’ names, thus symbolically walking along the whole path of the existence of the Latvian state. Everyone present was invited to decorate the environment art object “99 + 1 = 100” with a red-white-red ribbon.
At the end of the opening ceremony, Ojārs Feldbergs split the boulder, creating a symbolic gate, through which the participants of the event symbolically entered the new centenary of Latvia.
